Thorben. 23. From Luxembourg. Studying in Scotland. Spending 12 days in Venice as a member of the Young Filmgoers Jury, part of the Venice Days. Here's the story…

You and whose army

Posted: September 3rd, 2010 | Author: | Filed under: Venice | Comments Off
Day three in Camp Venice was rather calm. After getting up at 7:40 in the morning, we went to see Julian Schnabel’s Miral with Willem Dafoe and Freida Pinto. It’s one of those films that don’t really please you – especially not at 8.30 in the morning. But you can grasp quite easily how important it actually is. Miral is not the story of someone in particular, it’s stories of many people intertwined, all of which take place amidst the background of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The film is tackling the issue in a very thrilling, yet completely unpathetic way. Undoubtedly an emotionally challenging film, and I believe it could be one of the most important films of this Biennale.

Our daily panel was interrupted by a heavy shower combined with hailstorm and thunder. The thunder hit us so hard, it destroyed our canteen tent, which made it impossible for us to have lunch that day. Crap.

In the afternoon we mainly cleaned our flat as the majority of us had forgotten to close our windows, so the rain hit us quite hard.

Around 6.30, we went to see Incendies by Denis Villeneuve, a fucking huge masterpiece of scriptwriting, and somewhat a lebanese Homo faber. It poses all sorts of questions about denial, identities, war, peace, power and fighting. The film touched me right from the start, especially as it was focused around two Radiohead songs (Spinning Plates and You and Whose Army) which of course amazed me. Denis Villeuneuve’s story is twisted yet intelligent.

Our latest double feature was fully booked, despite us being on the jury. Stupid. Instead we decided on beer, mojitos and red wine. 2.59 € for a 2 Liter bottle. Good stuff.

Screening log so far: Black Swan, Machete, Dark Love, The Accordion, Le bruit des glaçons, Miral, Incendies

Comments are closed.